From David Walliams to The Salt Path, Kate Clanchy - and the moments when publishing suddenly acts fast When a phrase like “after careful consideration” is deployed, readers are meant to hear thoughtfulness, balance, and moral gravity. What they are usually hearing instead is the soft click of a filing cabinet closing. Here we have the gap between what publishing says it is doing - and what, with remarkable consistency, it actually does. It is not about guilt or innocence. I

One still lives by the pitching of ideas and editorial meetings, perhaps dog-eared manuscripts in canvas bags are long gone.

So, what can Meditations teach us about surviving the circus of modern publishing? Let’s take a leaf from his scrolls?